Zoe Nahas
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zoenahas.bsky.social
Zoe Nahas
@zoenahas.bsky.social
760 followers 340 following 36 posts
Postdoc in Fankhauser lab, University of Lausanne. Previously PhD in Leyser & Locke labs at Sainsbury Laboratory, Cambridge.

Development, plants, shoot branching, auxin, evo/devo, systems biology, food security
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zoenahas.bsky.social
Zoe Nahas @zoenahas.bsky.social · Sep 26
Happy to share slightly late that the main work of my PhD is now published! How do plants regulate the number + location of growing branches 🌳🌲? We used experiments and mathematical modelling to study how local and systemic signals are integrated during shoot branching regulation. A thread:
plosbiology.org PLOS Biology @plosbiology.org · Sep 16
How do #plants dynamically modulate their shoot branching for optimal returns? ‪@zoenahas.bsky.social‬ &co show that BRC1 modulates bud competitiveness by reducing #auxin efflux, integrating hormonal cues to fine-tune branching patterns @plosbiology.org @slcuplants.bsky.social 🧪 plos.io/4pnrwY2
2-node explants capture key properties of bud regulation. Top left: A stem segment with two axillary buds illustrates two regulatory hubs controlling shoot branching (i) local expression of the transcription factor BRC1, a repressor of bud activation, and (ii) systemic regulation of the auxin transport network. A canalization-based model of shoot branching postulates that bud activation requires the establishment of canalized auxin transport from the bud into the main stem, the dynamics of which is influenced by autocatalytic feedback in auxin flow between the bud and the stem, and the relative auxin source and sink strengths of the bud and stem, respectively. The relationship between BRC1- and auxin-transport-mediated regulation is not known. Bottom left: Arabidopsis bud activation occurs in at least two phases: a slow-growing lag phase, then a switch to rapid outgrowth. Typical timescale 10–12 days. Right: Diagram illustrating the four possible growth outcomes for bud activation on 2-node explants, and their representation in a Mitchison plot. Mitchison plots present the length of the top bud versus that of the bottom bud over time in each explant. Explants where at least one bud grows are termed active, otherwise, they are inactive. Within active explants, there are three possible outcomes: both buds grow, or only either the top or the bottom bud activates.
Reposted by Zoe Nahas
talbotlabtsl.bsky.social
This is a remarkable study describing a new fungal species in a 407 million year old plant - Rugososporomyces lavoisierae Strullu-Derrien and Schornack sp. nov - using some amazing technology. Worth a read 👇
slcuplants.bsky.social Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) @slcuplants.bsky.social · 10d
Confocal scanning laser microscopy, fluorescence lifetime imaging & Raman analyses allowed @nhm-london.bsky.social, @slcuplants.bsky.social & @cambridge-ee.bsky.social researchers to resolve plant & fungal structures fossil
Read in @newphyt.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1111/nph....

@dromius.bsky.social
November 14, 2025 at 9:37 AM
Reposted by Zoe Nahas
apaterlini.bsky.social
Here is my @currentbiology.bsky.social dispatch on an excellent article by the @coudertlab.bsky.social. Re-visiting the shoot branching field (and learning many new things in the process!) brought back fond memories from my time at @slcuplants.bsky.social. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Plant development: Auxin diffusion controls moss shoot architecture
The phytohormone auxin is a conserved inhibitor of shoot branching in plants. While directional, carrier-mediated transport is necessary for the proce…
www.sciencedirect.com
November 3, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Reposted by Zoe Nahas
dromius.bsky.social
Plz RP. Come join us at @slcuplants.bsky.social @cam.ac.uk to study effector-targeted plant processes impacting plant cell biology and development.
www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/post-do...
www.schornacklab.net
advert text as bitmap picture of the Schornacklab team
November 6, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Reposted by Zoe Nahas
routierlab.bsky.social
How fast do plants actually grow? And which growth processes matter most for organ size?
We dived into 176 papers, extracted and re-analyzed the data so you don’t have to!
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
@newphyt.bsky.social @virajalim.bsky.social @elvisbranchini.bsky.social
A multiscale growth atlas of Arabidopsis: linking cell dynamics to organ development
Plant development depends on coordinated growth at cellular and organ scales, yet comparative analyses are hindered by inconsistent reporting of growth across studies. We conducted a meta-analysis o.....
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 11, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Reposted by Zoe Nahas
drannisr.bsky.social
Are you looking for a PhD in Plant Science? Check our our project on barley canopy architecture. Combine genetics and physics to understand how awns influence barley grain development. Find out more here: lnkd.in/eWhWammJ Apply by 14th December. #PhDPosition
#PlantSci @instmolplantsci.bsky.social
LinkedIn
This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn
lnkd.in
November 10, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Reposted by Zoe Nahas
apaterlini.bsky.social
Few Plant science programmes are left in the UK and they are critical to train the next generation.
This move by @uniofnottingham.bsky.social goes against recommendations made in the recent PS Education manifesto. Big mistake! Sign the petition! nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
November 9, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Reposted by Zoe Nahas
bradylabs.bsky.social
Interested in learning about the latest and greatest research in how plants respond to excess salt, too little or too much water? Come to the GRC in Salt and Water Stress in Switzerland. Lots of opportunities for all career levels. www.grc.org/salt-and-wat.... Please repost!
2026 Salt and Water Stress in Plants Conference GRC
The 2026 Gordon Research Conference on Salt and Water Stress in Plants will be held in Les Diablerets, Vaud (fr) Switzerland. Apply today to reserve your spot.
www.grc.org
November 6, 2025 at 1:06 AM
Reposted by Zoe Nahas
nikogeldner.bsky.social
A really nice telling of the rise of Arabidopsis - mentioning so many of my heroes! We should be grateful for their vision and persistence.
knowablemag.bsky.social Knowable Magazine @knowablemag.bsky.social · 18d
Arabidopsis thaliana was always an unlikely candidate for the limelight. But 25 years ago, the diminutive thale cress launched the botanical world into the molecular era.

✍️ Rachel Ehrenberg

knowmag.org/4hImL8e
How a humble weed became a superstar of biology
Arabidopsis thaliana was always an unlikely candidate for the limelight. But 25 years ago, the diminutive thale cress launched the botanical world into the molecular era.
knowmag.org
November 5, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Reposted by Zoe Nahas
apaterlini.bsky.social
Very excited to announce that our collaborative manifesto for 🌱 #PlantScience #Education has now been published! Educators from >10 countries and 30 institutions have contributed to it and we are incredibly proud of the final output. Here is a short thread 🧵1/4 doi.org/10.1002/ppp3...
A manifesto for plant science education
Plants provide oxygen, food, shelter, medicines and environmental services, without which human society could not exist. Tackling pressing and global challenges requires well-trained plant scientists....
doi.org
October 29, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Reposted by Zoe Nahas
plantevodevo-ab.bsky.social
🌱 Open PhD Position in Plant EvoDevo 🌱 Thinking about a PhD in plant evodevo? The Becker Research Group (JLU Giessen, Germany) has a fully funded 4-year PhD position in the ICIPS II research unit! 🎓 📍 Where? Gießen, Germany – great research environment & vibrant plant science network.
tinyurl.com
October 23, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Reposted by Zoe Nahas
pdchristine.bsky.social
New pre-print from the team!

The manuscript is @emma-raven.bsky.social's PhD work showing that whether a leaf is a carbon sink or a carbon source influences how they execute immune responses.

Have a read!

#PlantScience
@johninnescentre.bsky.social
biorxiv-plants.bsky.social bioRxiv Plant Bio @biorxiv-plants.bsky.social · Oct 14
Primary metabolism underpins the execution of immune responses in different tissues of the same plant https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.11.681807v1
October 14, 2025 at 7:16 AM
Reposted by Zoe Nahas
nemopeeters.bsky.social
Check out the quality of segmentation by #OneRosette, even when leaves are dying to DC3000. Come and see nuts and bolts of this deep learning prompt-engineering by PhD candidate Felicià Maviane @lipme-toulouse.bsky.social on the 24/10/2025 13h #Margulis
October 15, 2025 at 8:53 AM
Reposted by Zoe Nahas
pdchristine.bsky.social
We have a project available for 2026 NRP Doctoral Training Partnership entry (i.e. PhD studentship opportunity!)

How do cells communicate when it's hot?

Don't know? Me either! Come work with us @johninnescentre.bsky.social and figure it out

biodtp.norwichresearchpark.ac.uk/projects/how...
How do cells communicate when it’s hot? (FAULKNER_J26DTP) | Doctoral Training Partnership
Plant cells are connected to their neighbours via ‘tubes’ called plasmodesmata, creating an interconnected cytoplasm that joins cells within and between tissues and organs.
biodtp.norwichresearchpark.ac.uk
October 12, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Reposted by Zoe Nahas
botanicaljim.bsky.social
I was tremendously lucky to be in @xanderjones.bsky.social's lab to watch @bijuntang.bsky.social move from technician to PhD to Postdoc and produce this magnum opus. #SalicS1 is the just reward for years of brilliance and hard work.Well done Bijun, Xander, Jing, and everyone involved! #SalicylicAcid
slcuplants.bsky.social Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) @slcuplants.bsky.social · Oct 9
Salicylic acid biosensor, SalicS1, tracks the plant immune hormone salicylic acid in real time - revealing propagation of hormone surge during plant pathogen advance

Latest biosensor from @xanderjones.bsky.social team
In Science doi.org/10.1126/scie...
Summary www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/news/new-bio...
October 10, 2025 at 9:07 AM
Reposted by Zoe Nahas
slcuplants.bsky.social
Salicylic acid biosensor, SalicS1, tracks the plant immune hormone salicylic acid in real time - revealing propagation of hormone surge during plant pathogen advance

Latest biosensor from @xanderjones.bsky.social team
In Science doi.org/10.1126/scie...
Summary www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/news/new-bio...
October 9, 2025 at 10:32 PM
Reposted by Zoe Nahas
somssich.bsky.social
People: "Things used to be better."

Scientist: "When did it start getting worse?"

People: "When I was born."

From "The illusion of moral decline" by Adam Mastroianni.
shorturl.at/FFEDV
A graph showing violin plots. On the y axis is the perceived morality of people from 0 to 8. On the x axis the time points 40 years before my birth, 20 years before my birth, at my birth, 20 years past my birth, today. The morality value is constant until birth, and then declines.
October 4, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Reposted by Zoe Nahas
cbank.bsky.social
Please spread the word! 10 days left to apply for this #sciencejobs as Assistant Professor Tenure Track in Quantitative Cell Biology 👩‍🔬
@izb-unibern.bsky.social @unibe.ch! ohws.prospective.ch/public/v1/jo...
#QueerInSTEM #DisabledInSTEM #BlackInSTEM #WomenInSTEM #CarersInSTEM #AcademicSky #HigherED
Uni Bern: Assistant Professor with tenure-track for Quantitative Cell Biology
Start date of employment: anticipated for August 2027
ohws.prospective.ch
October 7, 2025 at 11:17 AM
Reposted by Zoe Nahas
hueihsuantsai.bsky.social
Very excited to see our @nikogeldner.bsky.social lab x Feng Zhou lab work featured on the cover of Science!
(1/5) We reveal how root architecture and nutrient leakage shape spatial patterns of microbial colonization, moving beyond traditional models of uniform exudation.
science.org Science Magazine @science.org · Oct 2
Using precise spatial and temporal analysis, researchers in Science provide insight into how bacteria around the root interact both with the plant and with each other.

Learn more in this week's issue: https://scim.ag/3WgNajk
A confocal microscopy image shows root-colonizing bacteria clustering around an emerging lateral root, where localized glutamine leakage induces spatially confined reporter activity.
October 2, 2025 at 10:35 PM
Reposted by Zoe Nahas
johninnescentre.bsky.social
VACANCY - Independent research fellowships leading to tenured positions

We’re inviting applications from outstanding researchers who either hold, or wish to apply for, Independent Research Fellowships.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: 10 November 2025

Click here to apply: jic.link/Fellows
October 3, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Reposted by Zoe Nahas
nikogeldner.bsky.social
A long road to the Cover of Science!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Localized glutamine leakage drives the spatial structure of root microbial colonization
Plant roots release exudates to encourage microbiome assembly, which influences the function and stress resilience of plants. How specific exudates drive spatial colonization patterns remains largely ...
www.science.org
October 3, 2025 at 12:45 PM
Reposted by Zoe Nahas
xanderjones.bsky.social
Only a few days left to apply!

My group is looking for a postdoc to engineer and deploy new tools to precisely manipulate and decode how auxin coordinates plant morphogenesis.

@starmorph-syg.bsky.social

Research Associate - Reprogramming Development (closes 7 October 2025)
www.cam.ac.uk
October 3, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Reposted by Zoe Nahas
hildeschneemann.bsky.social
🚂 This petition needs your signatures! Save the wonderful nighttrain that gets you into the center of Paris/Vienna/Berlin in time for breakfast whilst you doze off or have memorable encounters and conversations with fellow travellers agir.greenvoice.fr/petitions/sa...
🚂 Sauvons les trains de nuit Paris-Berlin et Paris-Vienne
Signez la pétition maintenant !
agir.greenvoice.fr
September 28, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Reposted by Zoe Nahas
cristicris.bsky.social
It was already known that auxins (surprise!) had a key role controlling the end of flowering, plant menopause. Now we can tell you how and where they act in the inflorescence meristem to control the process.
@irenegonzlez.bsky.social
www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822%2825%2901002-4
Local regulation of auxin-related pathways in the shoot apical meristem plays a major role during proliferative arrest
González-Cuadra et al. show that repression of auxin-related pathways locally in the SAM is key in the control of proliferative arrest. FRUITFULL regulates these pathways to promote meristem arrest. B...
www.cell.com
September 11, 2025 at 4:52 PM
zoenahas.bsky.social
Check out the link below for a summary of our recent paper on how plants coordinate their branching architecture, via @slcuplants.bsky.social 🌱
slcuplants.bsky.social Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) @slcuplants.bsky.social · Sep 19
🌱From Bud to Branch🌱
New model reveals how local & systemic signals combine to regulate shoot branching.
"...by modulating #auxin transport, local #BRC1 expression in each bud could contribute to the systemic control of branching." @zoenahas.bsky.social
🔗 dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...
@plosbiology.org
Axillary buds are located at the base of each leaf. Initially dormant, each can grow into a branch. To study how branching is regulated by local signalling within each bud and by systemic signalling from other buds, we used stem sections with two axillary buds and their associated leaves (left). This signalling network influences, for example, whether one bud grows and rapidly inhibits the other (middle), or whether both buds grow simultaneously (right).
September 26, 2025 at 11:17 AM
zoenahas.bsky.social
Happy to share slightly late that the main work of my PhD is now published! How do plants regulate the number + location of growing branches 🌳🌲? We used experiments and mathematical modelling to study how local and systemic signals are integrated during shoot branching regulation. A thread:
plosbiology.org PLOS Biology @plosbiology.org · Sep 16
How do #plants dynamically modulate their shoot branching for optimal returns? ‪@zoenahas.bsky.social‬ &co show that BRC1 modulates bud competitiveness by reducing #auxin efflux, integrating hormonal cues to fine-tune branching patterns @plosbiology.org @slcuplants.bsky.social 🧪 plos.io/4pnrwY2
2-node explants capture key properties of bud regulation. Top left: A stem segment with two axillary buds illustrates two regulatory hubs controlling shoot branching (i) local expression of the transcription factor BRC1, a repressor of bud activation, and (ii) systemic regulation of the auxin transport network. A canalization-based model of shoot branching postulates that bud activation requires the establishment of canalized auxin transport from the bud into the main stem, the dynamics of which is influenced by autocatalytic feedback in auxin flow between the bud and the stem, and the relative auxin source and sink strengths of the bud and stem, respectively. The relationship between BRC1- and auxin-transport-mediated regulation is not known. Bottom left: Arabidopsis bud activation occurs in at least two phases: a slow-growing lag phase, then a switch to rapid outgrowth. Typical timescale 10–12 days. Right: Diagram illustrating the four possible growth outcomes for bud activation on 2-node explants, and their representation in a Mitchison plot. Mitchison plots present the length of the top bud versus that of the bottom bud over time in each explant. Explants where at least one bud grows are termed active, otherwise, they are inactive. Within active explants, there are three possible outcomes: both buds grow, or only either the top or the bottom bud activates.
September 26, 2025 at 10:40 AM